Together, Side By Side
by Nodameee
Summary: Modern AU. Levi and Eren work as agents solving problems people have and stuff. Starts off sad but has a happy ending :) Ereri/ levi x eren


**Together, Side By Side**

Alone. Walking mindlessly along the long beaches of this ocean.

Ever since accidentally letting Levi know his feelings towards him, Eren noticed, Levi started avoiding him. Originally, the two people would walk side by side to work since they lived close to each other, sometimes having breakfast together. Now Levi would get up early and drive to work, just to avoid seeing Eren. Only sometimes, when Eren felt like waking up earlier, could he see Levi getting into his car. The moment their eyes met, time seemed to stop. It was as if in those few seconds he saw the Levi he used to know. Until Levi, without saying a word, turned around and closed the car door.

The pain of being ignored is way greater than the pain of being yelled at. Staring at the leaving car, Eren felt like crying, yet he had no tears.

The relationship was still torn apart huh.

The next day at lunch, Armin asked a question. "Eren, did you have a fight with Levi?" Staring with bright blue eyes, he asked worriedly. "Hmm? No? Why do you ask?" Eren replied. Yes, we didn't fight. We just went back to the start, when we were both strangers. What has two strangers got to fight about?

"Because, Levi didn't come with you to have lunch with us recently!" Armin observed.

"That's because Levi is busy" Eren replied with a smile. "Are you sure?" Mikasa said narrowing her eyes at Eren.

"Yes."

Maybe, just maybe, he can find ways to stop this awkward situation. So he started to ask his boss for more work, more missions.

Eren wanted to see the ocean.

He accepted a lot of missions and work involving the ocean, running all over the place, travelling through multiple seas and oceans, one by one solving each and every problem ahead of him.

The mission he was on now, was the reason he was walking mindlessly along the beaches of this sea. The view was breath-taking, especially during sunset, but strangely, there was a depressing atmosphere surrounding this wonderful place. There is a story to this place, how it got its depressing atmosphere. The legend long forgotten by the people, but flipping through ancient history books, Eren found the story. Just like an old fashioned fairy tale, a princess fell in love with the wrong person, forcefully taken apart. The man she loved was killed, his bones were sent back to her. She cried, cried, cried… using up her tears that become blood after all the tears were gone. Drop by drop forming a lake, then a sea. Singing a song softly, wanting to bring back the life of her loved one. In the end, the princess with the bones of her loved one sinking into the sea of tears and blood, never awaking again.

It seems as if all the ancient legends were a tragedy, Eren thought with a sad smile. Then he thought of himself and Levi.

Stop thinking about him, ok? Eren said to himself. Accepting all these missions… wasn't it all because he wanted to leave Levi? Walking to the sea, he knelt down and touched the cool water that seemed to be laughing at him as ripples appeared the moment he dipped his hand in. Beautiful, yet distant. He thought of someone.

Closing his eyes, he quietly listened to the sound of silence, the heart-breaking sound of sadness given off by the sea.

Princess… did you once greedily wished for the warmth that would never be yours as well? Even if both feelings towards each other are the same, the pressure forced upon them must have been unbearable. In that case, he and Levi was much easier.

Like or dislike, only two simple answers. He got the second.

It is humanity's nature to be greedy. Even after knowing that it's not good for us, we still want to head that way. Even knowing the dangers of getting hurt, we still don't care.

Is it really time to give up?

The sadness keeps biting at him, Eren could barely breathe. Even if he tries his hardest to catch up to Levi, he knows that Levi wouldn't be looking at him a second time. Thinking of the memories that they created together, Levi always cared for him, always looking out for him. But memories, at the end, are just memories.

Remembering the song the princess sang, Eren cried.

For the tragedy of the princess, he tells himself. Not for Levi.

Facing harsh words from his boss, he didn't cry. Facing Levi's cold attitude, tears didn't drop. Only now, when there aren't any other people, he could cry. Cry with all his heart, crying for the sake of the princess. Let his tears drown into the sea, allowing the flow of water taking them away to be forgotten.

Princess, Princess, Princess, Levi, Levi, Levi, Levi, Levi…

The wind blows, for a moment he thought he heard the voice of the princess, gently humming the song.

"Eren! You're awake!" A pair of arms held him. Wincing at the bright white light, Eren saw the face of Mikasa looking worried.

"Where am I, what happened?" Eren asked, puzzled. Wasn't he at the sea finishing off his mission? Why was he suddenly in a hospital bedroom? The sad tune seemed as if it was still lingering in the air around him.

"You haven't contacted Erwin in three days, Levi went to find you and took you back. When he found you, you were half dead." Armin spoke, his words slightly shaking. The thought of losing his best friend was frightening, Eren realised what he had done and looked around the room. Everyone was here. Other than Mikasa and Armin, Jean, Sasha, Connie, Erwin, Hanji, Marco were all here. His eyes froze as he saw the last person, standing at the back of the room. Levi.

"I see, well thank you guys for coming to see me" Eren said with a distant smile, cold eyes looking at Levi "and thank you sir, for saving me."

Something wasn't right, all the people in the room thought at the same time. Eren's attitude was too cold, and his eyes didn't sparkle when Levi looked at him. What went wrong?

A few seconds later, Hanji was forced, especially by Levi, to check if Eren really didn't have a problem again. The results were the same, Eren was perfectly fine. "He probably just woke up and his mind wasn't really working properly." Hanji laughed.

Walking down the familiar streets, it was now only Eren and Levi.

"Well I'm going to leave now sir, goodnight." Eren said with a slight smile.

"Wait, Eren." Levi grabbed him hand.

"Sir?"

"You…" Even though he grabbed Eren's hand, he wasn't so sure what to say. There were so many things to ask. Why did you suddenly accept so many missions? Why did your attitude change? Why are you… calling me sir? So many questions, he didn't know where to start. Even though he was the one who started to avoid Eren, but…

"…Why are you calling me sir?" He decided to ask this question.

Frowning, Eren looked at Levi "No reason? Sir is sir?"

"Sir, I'm tired after today. If you have no other problems, I need to get some rest." Eren said with a sigh and slipped his hand away from Levi.

"Goodnight sir."

Watching Eren walk away, Levi felt like he couldn't breathe, why did they seem so far apart even though they are only a few meters away from each other? Why…

Everything seemed the same.

Eren still laughed and chatted with his friends, spent a bit of time every day at lunch insulting Jean as the other insulted him back. Armin and Mikasa stayed close to him, Connie and Sasha trying to steal his food.

But something was still wrong. Like, Eren never relied on anyone anymore. He would rather take the bus himself to work rather than asking someone to give him a lift. He would rather ask for more missions than staying at home and playing games.

Like, he would call Levi sir.

Something was wrong, no, everything was wrong in Levi's eyes. Facing Eren's distant polite smile and calling him sir made him mad and annoyed.

Levi had to know, he had to find out what was wrong with Eren.

After making sure Eren was at home, Levi knocked on Eren's door.

"Sir..?" A quick surprised look appeared on the Erens face, which soon returned to the usual polite smile.

"Is something the matter sir?"

"Yes! There is something wrong with you!" Levi stared dangerously at Eren.

"Is there?"

"Yes!" Grabbing Eren's hand, Levi stormed out of the house and into his car.

"Sir, I really don't think this is…" a good idea, Eren hasn't finished his sentence when Levi interrupted him.

"I don't care, I need to find out what is wrong. You're acting strangely Eren, It's not like you."

"…"

The conversation stopped there. Eren was wondering where Levi was taking him, peering at Levi's impatient face, he suddenly felt like laughing. He never thought he would see this expression on this person, if it was the Eren before, he probably would have been really happy, happy that Levi cared for him, even a little bit. But now… it didn't really matter to him.

Some things, once changed, is hard to go back to normal.

A few hours later, they arrived at their destination.

The familiar depressing atmosphere and beautiful sea came into sight. Why did Levi take him here?

As if reading his mind, Levi said "I need answers, I believe this is the place where I may find what I am looking for."

"Eren, I need to ask you, did something happen here?"

There was silence.

After a while, Eren finally answered "What do you really want?"

"What can you achieve after getting your answer sir? Is playing around with people's feelings really that fun?" Please stop forcing him, Eren finally let go of his feelings towards Levi, just stop forcing him to remember it all. What's the point in remembering? Levi's cold attitude was carved into Eren's heart. Why is he forcing Eren to remember?

Levi reached out to hold Eren's hand, and Eren tried to get away from it only to find himself falling into a pair of strong arms.

"Let go of me!" Eren struggled to break free of Levi's arms, but was held tighter by him.

"I'm not trying to mess around with your emotions!" Levi said quickly "I just want to know what happened!" Levi knows he was the one who started to avoid Eren, but he has his reasons…

How can they love each other? How will Eren's parents think? How is Eren going to put up with the pressure both families are going to put on him? Levi knows he can cope well, hes used to it. But Eren…

"Oh? You're not trying to play around with my emotions? So you want to see me upset is it? Seeing me upset must be funny right? Because you're humanity's strongest anyway, seeing a normal person struggle is great isn't it?" Eren shouted at him, hitting him on the chest over and over again. Although Eren didn't hit really hard, Levi felt each and every hit and word like a knife, piercing into his heart.

Without hesitation, Levi leaned over, grabbed Eren's hands and kissed his lips.

Each kiss representing the love that couldn't be forgotten. Carefully handling the kissing as if it was a masterpiece, Families, pressure, whatever. Levi didn't care anymore. All he wanted was to stay with the person he thought of day and night.

Pulling away from the kiss, Levi hugged Eren tightly, but was surprised when he saw Eren's small face covered with tears.

This was the first time he ever saw Eren cry, before, even when he was ignoring him, Eren never dropped a single tear. But now, Eren was crying. The tears, made him realise just how much Eren loved him.

"Why… why must you do such a thing after I let go of you…" Eren spoke, trying his hardest to stop his voice from shaking.

Eren didn't want to cry, crying doesn't help the situation at all, but he couldn't keep his tears in any longer. He tried so hard so hard to get rid of his feeling towards Levi, and now he was here, in his arms crying.

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry…" Levi whispered kissing away the tears on Eren's face. "I love you Eren…"

Tears fell even more.

"Don't cry…"

"This isn't a dream right…please don't lie to me… I don't want to cry once more…" Eren said choking, burying his head into Levi's shoulder. He would rather build up walls within his heart than to lose this person once more.

Making Eren face him, Levi said seriously "I, Levi Ackerman, promise to stay with Eren Jeager until death separates us."

" _I dreamt last night that he came to me_ _  
_ _He said, "My love, why do you cry?_ _  
_ _For now it won't be long any more_ _  
_ _Until in my cold grave we will lie_ _  
_ _Until in my cold grave we will lie"_

Finally finished~~ My first fanfiction haha :) the last little paragraph was a song lyric the song that the princess was singing … IT WASN'T A DREAM ! Sorry if it was kinda long and stuff… Hope you guys like it! Please leave a like or comment on anything that you think I should improve. Thank you~


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